Measure would ease hiring rules for U.S. tech firms

May 7, 2013
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Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has introduced an amendment that would help large technology firms deal with visa requirements for foreign workers. Hatch is seen here in an Oct. 17, 2012, campaign debate. / Rick Bowmer, AP

by Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY

by Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - Most U.S. technology companies would not have to first offer jobs to Americans before hiring overseas workers, under a measure introduced late Tuesday by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

The provision is one of a several industry-friendly amendments proposed by Hatch ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee's markup of the chamber's leading immigration bill. The bill's current language requires companies to first extend job offers to equally qualified U.S. workers for highly skilled jobs in programming, engineering and other fields before hiring foreign workers on temporary H-1B visas.

It also would give the U.S. Department of Labor the power to review and challenge individual hiring decisions for up to two years after they are made. Technology firms have lobbied aggressively to change the language, saying it amounts to government overreach.

The proposal by Hatch would impose those requirements only on companies that rely on H-1B holders for 15% or more of their workforce - a move that largely targets consulting companies that supply workers temporarily to the USA. Many of those companies are based in India.

Many U.S. firms, such as Microsoft, Oracle and Intel, would not be subject to the new hiring rules if Hatch's measure is incorporated in the bill.

"This would protect the majority of employers, and the majority of employers are doing the right thing," said Scott Corley, executive director of Compete America, a trade group.

Hatch, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, has filed 24 proposed changes to the bill - a compromise measure crafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a leading Republican opponent of the immigration overhaul, has filed even more: 49.

Salt Lake City has become a growing base for technology-industry data centers.

Silicon Valley, exercising growing lobbying clout in Washington, already has made big gains in the Senate measure, which expands the number of H-1B visas to 205,000 annually, up from the current limit of 85,000. The demand of these visas is so great that this year's cap was reached in less than a week.

Tech companies say they face chronic shortages of qualified workers and must recruit from abroad. Critics say the foreign workers are a source of cheaper labor.